The recent increase in high quality data for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current with advances in computer technology allows the possibility of constructing high resolution numerical models that can be forced with real winds and verified against observations. One such set of data is the FGGE (First GARP Global Experiment) wind fields estimated twice daily on a grid of 1.875x by 1.875x and the current measurement on the Drake passage made during the DRAKE 79 experiment. Both datasets span the same time interval for more than one year (1979). The Australian Bureau of Meteorology surface pressure analysis and the FGGE surface drifters give additional datasets that can be used by the models. The investigator proposes to use three models of increasing complexity. A verticclly integrated, quasi-geostrophic model, a two-layer, quasi-geostrophic model and a three-level primitive equation model. These models will be used to determine the fundamental dynamical balances for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the frequency response of the circulation to the forcing winds.
